


You 'n Me

by duchessdeer



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Child Abuse and Death, Merle Dixon Cares, Slow Burn, TWD typical Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-16 00:33:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17539292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duchessdeer/pseuds/duchessdeer
Summary: Merle reunites with his baby brother, but he is not alone and the one he's attached to doesn't trust anyone except for him.





	1. Worth fighting for

**Author's Note:**

> Starts off the moment the Dixon brothers are left to fight in the Woodbury arena and continues on from that point with an own story which is based loosely on the tv shows events.

 

Panic rose in Sam's stomach as Woodbury‘s people cheered. She hadn't liked this tradition from the beginning, but Merle had called her a spoilsport and happily participated in the fighting competitions the Governor had created. Now, where nothing was fake anymore, Merle finally seemed to have realized that nobody was safe from the Governor‘s wrath and when the canvas was pulled off the captives head, Sam saw the horror in the eyes of the man she had come to think of as family.

"MERLE'S BROTHER," boomed the Governor's voice in her ears and she gasped.

"NO!"

She hadn't realized she'd shouted out loud, until she saw Merle tear his eyes away from the man before him with a start, his gaze meeting hers. He shook his head ever so slightly and hurriedly fixed his eyes on his brother again, who looked around the rows of spectators.

The Governor didn't seem to listen to any feedback the audience gave, though. His expression was full of hate and madness. Why hadn't they left before this? Merle had told her the things they did on their runs and she had wanted to leave, but he had thought that this was a safe place. At least for them.  
But here she stood now and didn‘t know what to do. How could she help them? Wasn't there any way to end this? She faintly heard the Governor continue his speech about betrayal, but she couldn't focus on a single word.

Merle swung his fist immediately when the fight began, but his brother, Daryl, didn't seem to keen on fighting back.

 _Fight back you idiot, play on time_ , Samantha pleaded desperately in her head, as she hurried through the crowd to get closer.

Merle had pushed Daryl to the ground now and finally the man started to fight back, landing a good punch himself.  
Samantha still didn't know what she could do. There was nothing to do, apart from...  
All eyes were fixed on the spectacle in the arena. She could do it. She could shoot the Governor. There was no way to know what his goons would do when he dropped dead, but at least this horror would be over, no matter what. Stepping back into the shadows of the stand, she pulled her gun out of the holster and took aim, trying to calm her ragged breaths.

Sam was one second from pulling the trigger when hell broke loose. Shots were fired and someone had thrown smoke bombs between the fighting brothers and within seconds, everything was plunged into thick, white clouds. People were screaming and running and shooting without aim. Sam pushed forward nonetheless, more stumbling than running through the crowd now. She couldn't see much further than an arm length, but she needed to find Merle.

"SAM!" Merle's shout came from her right and she spun around. "Hurry up, girl. Where the fuck have you been?"  
He grabbed her hand then and pulled her along, following the retreating shadows of what looked like a man and a woman, Daryl next to them.

How they made it out of the town, Sam had no clue. She fired shots in the direction of two of the Governor's men on the way, but was mostly just dragged along by Merle.

"You're not coming with us," the leader of the group snapped at one point when they reached the gates, but realized soon enough, that this wasn't the time and place for that discussion.  
  
They ran through the forest for what seemed like a lifetime. The sun had already risen when they stumbled out of the forest and onto a highway, where a car was parked and two other people were waiting. A young Asian guy who looked pretty beaten up and a black woman with dreads and a katana strapped around her torso.  
Sam didn't hesitate to grab her gun and step in front of Merle when the Asian suddenly aimed his own weapon at him and the woman drew her sword.

"Hey, hey, hey..." the dark haired guy stepped between them and when he turned around again, he addressed her directly: "Shit... put that gun down and step aside, kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

"Do you even know the things he did?"

"Like saving my life? Protecting me as I protected him? Looking for me even when you fuckers threw smoke bombs? Yeah, I know what he did," Samantha spat, keeping a steady grip on her gun.

Merle behind her chuckled.

"He's an asshole," cried the Asian.

"He's family."

That got a reaction out of Daryl: "Who the fuck are you?"

Merle scoffed and reached over her shoulder, slowly pushing the gun down.  
  
"This one here, little brother, is Samantha. She has more balls than any of you, I might add." He took the gun out of her hands and stuffed it back into the holster on her belt.

"Look, there's no time for storytelling," Sam interrupted. "Either you take us with you, or you're not. We have to leave right about fucking now!"

"I'm not leaving him, Rick. Before this, it has always been Merle and I. If he can't come, I'll be going with them," said Daryl.

"He wanted to kill me," cried the black woman.

The Asian nodded: "If it wasn't for him, Maggie would..."

Oh, so that was the reason behind this, Sam thought. Merle had done something stupid. Again.  
She turned her head and glared over her shoulder at him.

He shrugged and chuckled quietly: "You know how it is, sweetheart."

Yeah, she knew how it was. Of course, Merle was an asshole, but that didn't mean he was a bad person. He just couldn't hold his tongue, or rather wouldn't stop to think before talking or doing stuff for the life of him. She had never before met a person who was so straight forward. She didn't even know how it had happened, but one day, a few months after they‘d met, she had realized she cared about him.

That day they'd had one of their many arguments and Merle had stomped off and, in his rage, had thrown himself at the next best group of Walkers he'd come across. He had killed all of them, but was met with two guns and an arrow aimed at his face directly afterward. Sam had found him the moment the three men had walked into the clearing. She should have run then. The chances had been high that she would miss and one of them would shoot first, but she found herself unable to turn around when they knocked her companion to the ground.  
She had never before shot at a living person. Hell, she had never before even aimed at one. But this day she'd killed two men and watched on how Merle killed the third, the blade on his forearm piercing through the mans skull without much effort.  
Their relationship had changed, too that day. Merle still got on her nerves after it, but he wouldn't direct his tempers at her anymore and he opened up to normal conversation a lot more. With a fond smile, he told her stories of his baby brother and how they survived together.  
It didn't help her attachment at all. The man had crept up on her and suddenly there had been another person she was afraid to lose.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam couldn't believe Daryl's group had actually decided to take them in for the time being. She sat in the back of the car, sandwiched between Merle and Daryl and felt suddenly very much like a kid again. She didn't know these people. What if their intentions weren't all that noble? Merle had lived with them for a short while, but their current leader had only just arrived when Merle had been left. He had told her of that sheriff guy who had chained him up on a malls roof in Atlanta and really, how could he trust them to not just drop them off somewhere without their weapons or worse, any way to defend themselves?

She sighed, her eyes flickering to Daryl on her right. His arm was propped up at the space by the window and he was drumming his fingers absentmindedly on the interior trim.  
Of course, he was the reason. Merle trusted him to get him out of any precarious situation and she understood why, but still...  
He had told the group, that he would go with Merle and her, though. Did he mean it? Would he leave the people he had survived with for so long?

Daryl turned his head then and frowned at her when he saw her staring. She held his gaze and after a few seconds he huffed and turned towards the window again, fidgeting with his fingernails.  
Sam turned around to Merle, who grinned at her as if nothing bad had happened at all and he'd be perfectly welcome in this car.

Her gut feeling didn't improve when they stopped a little while later in front of large prison gates.

„Do you really trust these people?" she urged in a hushed voice.

Merle grinned at her again and shrugged: „No."

„Then why are we here? Why let them take us into these walls? It's a damn prison, Merle. These walls are built to keep people in!"

„Ain't nobody holding you captive," drawled Daryl.

She didn't turn around, though, just continued to look into Merle's eyes instead, the question clearly written in her own. _Are you sure about this?_

Merle hesitated, his eyes wandering to his brother briefly, but then grabbed her hand in his. _It's okay, trust me._

Sam sighed, leaned back in her seat and held onto the little comfort she was offered, hoping that this, for once, would turn out a good decision.

The prison inside was a cold and clammy place. The raw cement walls held no warmth and the metal bars, which they had partly covered with bed sheets, obviously to try and create a bit of privacy for everyone, made it look even more uncomfortable. Of course, those brought safety as well, but Sam still couldn't help but feel caged in.  
She didn't know what she had expected, but it surely had not been an one-legged old man, a middle-aged woman who looked pretty much scared, a prisoner, a girl, a boy and a baby.

The leader strode around them with a quick, dark glare and made his way over to the girl who had the baby on her hip. He took it out of her arms, pressed a kiss on the head and hugged it tightly, whispering things Sam couldn't make out from the distance.

„Oh, this is just perfect," Merle chuckled, „couldn't you find any more lost cases?"

Oh, why couldn't he hold his tongue? Sam sighed inwardly and just wanted to tell him so when Daryl beat her to it: „Shut up."

„Merle?" asked the woman with the short grey hair, who had stepped closer now.

„Damn woman, wasn't expecting to see you again. How's your nice little hubby? Ain't seeing him around here."

„Ed's dead. The Walkers killed him back in the camp in Atlanta," she answered with a soft voice.

„Well, good for you. That kid of yours sure ain't needing him ‚round."

Everyone stopped moving at that and the sorrow that flickered over the woman's face could only mean one thing. Sam adverted her eyes and felt the warm hand in hers twitch nervously.

„Sorry. Didn' know," she heard Merle say, all traces of his usual sarcasm gone and she couldn't help but feel proud. He could play nice and sincerity was the one thing they'd need right now.

„It's okay."

„You can pick one of the unoccupied cells on the ground floor until we know what to do with you," said the Rick guy, when he turned around to Merle again.

„The girl can share Beth's cell," suggested the old man and their leader grunted his approval.

The blond girl, who had now the baby in her arms again, had to be Beth then. She seemed nice enough, but Sam wasn‘t going to share a sleeping space with a stranger.

„We'll not be separated," she told them.

The man frowned at her, his eyes trailing from her face to their joined hands.  
„Are you related?" he asked.

„As good as," answered Merle for her. „Not leaving her with your group of inadequate devotees."

„Fine," Rick shrugged.

The man eyed him carefully, before whispering: „Rick, you really want to leave her with him? She can't be much older than Beth, I don‘t think them sharing a cell is a good idea."

„And why not?"

„From the things you told us, he doesn't seem like the kind of man she'd be safe with alone at night."

„Are you seri-," Sam started, but was stopped by Daryl who stomped towards the two men.

„Is that what you think he is? Is that what you thought of me, too, old man? He's not a rapist!"

„His friend sure is," answered the Asian from behind them and everyone turned their heads.

„Glenn," cried the woman next to him.

Sam let go of Merle's hand then and fixed her eyes on the old man: „How dare you! I can assure you that he never so much as laid a fingertip inappropriately on me! We were alone all these months and I trust him with my life! I don't know what happened back there, but I know that he'd never hurt someone like that!"

She didn‘t know how, but somehow after an argument about the Governor's actions and a lot of shouting from the woman who had to be Maggie, they managed to get everything sorted and Sam found herself in a cell together with Merle. Only when she hit the mattress he had offered to her, she realized how tired she really was. They had been up all day yesterday and run through that forest all night. The last thing she remembered was Merle settling down on a sleeping bag next to the bunk bed before her eyes closed and sleep took over.

Sam woke to the sound of the shuffle of shoes and the bars of their cell being pushed open.

„What do you want?"

Merle sounded every bit as tired as she still felt, but if he was awake, there was no need to react, so she decided to keep quiet and listen. Cautiously she peered through her eyelashes. It was dark in the cell, but in the beginning morning light that fell in through the opening in the sheet covered bars, she could make out the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway.

„Thought we'd talk as long as everyone else is still asleep," came the hushed answer and Sam recognized the voice as Daryl‘s.

„So?" Merle asked and she could hear the rustle of the blankets as he sat up.

„What do you have with her?"

„What d' you think?"

The bars gave a low rumble when Daryl closed them and the room was drowned in darkness again.

„You bring her with you, you hold her hand, you touch her. She your new fuckbuddy?"

Merle chuckled before answering: „You know she‘s not, little brother. But even if we'd be fucking, what's it to you?“ 

„You‘re my brother. These people here, they trust me.“

„Oh yeah, that Rick guy and you, you‘re so close now,“ he mocked, voice rising. „That swine chained me up on a roof and left me there to die and you‘re kissing his ass like a good little bitch, aren‘t ya?“

„I‘m nobody's bitch!“

„So where were you?“

„We came back! We came and you were gone! I didn‘t cut your hand off, that was you! I didn‘t leave you either, that was you too, as always!“

Daryl's breathing was heavy now and Sam was sure everyone had heard that last part or at least had woken up from it. She debated on saying something, surely they had to know by now that she‘d be awake.

„She‘s not Haley, Merle. And you know it,“ whispered Daryl before pushing the metal door open with a loud bang, illuminating the room once more and leaving Sam staring into Merle's pain filled eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Getting up and walking out of the cell not knowing what to do felt weird. If Merle wanted to stay, they had to contribute to this, Sam knew that. If they'd been alone, she would have started to clear the place for the day or maybe grabbed a can of food and prepared it. Maybe she would have tried talking to Merle about what had happened, too. None of it seemed a good choice now, though. Their sleeping space didn't need clearing, the prison was a safe place and she sure as hell wouldn't grab any food she didn't own. Talking didn't seem right, either with all the people around.  
She lingered a moment, before walking over to the stairs which led up towards a second row of cells. Sitting down she pulled her gun from its holster and started taking it apart for a good cleaning.  
Daryl sat in the far corner of the room, seemingly very occupied with starting a fire. She saw him staring a few times out of the corner of her eye, but didn't say anything.

After a few more minutes others started to get up, but apart from Rick, who glared at her, nobody acknowledged her presence. Until Beth, that was. The girl had the baby with her again and Sam wondered briefly if she ever did anything else. But she reckoned, being good with babies was a plus, if your leader had one with him. It had to be a little girl if the pink, frilled jumper was any indication. 

„Hey," said the blonde and smiled brightly at her, „did you sleep well?"

„Was out cold. Have been a rough two days."

She laughed at that. It was a rich, high sound and Sam frowned. This girl seemed so carefree. She wondered how she did it.

„I reckon it was. I'm glad you made it here, though. You're safe now."

„I did hear that before, don't expect me to believe it anytime soon."

Beth smiled again and shrugged: „You'll see. This is Judith, by the way, she's Rick's daughter."

Sam looked at the baby again. It was contently chewing on its right hand, making soft gurgling noises. The girl couldn't be much older than a few weeks.

„Where's the mother?"

„She died during birth," answered Beth softly, „her son, Carl, had to put her down."

She remembered the little boy who'd stood next to Beth when they'd entered the cell block.  
„His own mother?" she asked and Beth nodded. What a fucked up world this had become. 

„Do you want to know more about the others, too? I mean... their names and all. I know it must feel weird to be in a place with people you can‘t even address properly.“

Sam didn't answer, just looked up from her gun again, but Beth didn't seem to care.

„The man with the white beard is my father, Hershel. He was bitten when we first moved into this place."

„You cut off his leg?" Sam interrupted. 

Beth shrugged with a sad smile: „There was no other option. Rick did it."  
After a short pause, she went on: „The woman who was with Rick when they got you is Maggie, she's my sister. Glenn is her boyfriend. We met Rick and his group on our farm after Carl got accidentally shot by a man of our group. My daddy is a vet, he helped him recover. They had been searching for a little girl they'd lost..."

„The other woman's daughter," Sam concluded and Beth nodded.

„Yeah, Carol. It's a story for another time, but she'd been a walker when they found her. Daryl..."

„Can tell his own stories if he wants to." Neither Sam nor Beth had heard the man, who was now glaring down at them, walk over.  
„You don't know her, Beth."

„She's not going to murder us in our sleep," she countered with a surprisingly strong voice. Seemed she wasn't as quiet and submissive as Sam had thought her to be.

Daryl made a huffing sound, but didn't say anything else, just kept glaring at her.

„The prisoner had been here when we arrived. His name is Axel. The woman with the dreads is Michonne. She stayed in Woodbury for a short time."

„Really?"

Daryl chuckled darkly: „Thought you and my brother were so close? Didn't he tell you anything?"

„He told me enough of what they did and he knew how I felt about it. I didn't need to know every detail. He thought we'd be safe and I trusted him," she answered and pursed her lips. 

„And how did that go?"

„Fuck you."

„Watch your mouth, girly."

„Or what? You leave me chained up on some roof?"

He was in her face in an instant, noses almost touching. „You wanna tell me somethin', girl? You really wanna go there?" he growled.

„Daryl!" cried Beth.

„You don't scare me, asshole," Sam answered easily, staring right back into his eyes.

The next moment, Rick came running.  
„What is going on?" he demanded to know.

„It's nothing. Everything is alright," Daryl pushed away from her, „isn't it, princess?"

„Sure."

The leader gave them a look, but didn't question their answers. He just shoved Daryl in the other direction and walked off with him.

Beth sighed before speaking softly again: „I know Rick didn't want to bring you here, but we need strong people and he knows it, too. We're good on our own, but it can't stay like this.“ 

She walked away then and Sam closed her eyes for a second, breathing deeply. These people were fucked up, but who wasn‘t these days? She shouldn‘t have pushed Daryl like that.

„Picking fights again, little one?“ 

That made her smile and she opened her eyes to look at him. „Y‘ know how it is,“ she mimicked.

Merle laughed and sat down, watching her fiddle with the gun in her hands. „Your Dixon is showing.“

„I‘m not a Dixon.“

„Ya sure could be, riling my little brother up like that.“ He bumped her shoulder with his and grabbed the weapon out of her hands, starting to polish it with the cloth he‘d pulled out of his back pocket.  
She smiled at that and he grinned back.

Later she made her way down to the showers. The day hadn‘t been too awful in the end. She had helped Beth and Carol with preparing the food. After that everyone had sat down on the ground around the fire and eaten. Merle had been astoundingly quiet, still, he had managed to piss off the Asian again. Beth‘s sister had stayed in her cell for the largest part of the day. But, given the circumstances, Sam understood the reasonings of both of them. Something bad had happened back in Woodbury and she wasn‘t sure if she wanted to know exactly what Merle and the Governor had done.  
Sam shook her head and sighed, stretching her arms in the air. She couldn‘t wait to take that shower. 

From one moment to the other, though, she found herself pressed against the hard stone wall in the dark corridor. She grabbed for her gun, but her hand was whisked away harshly.

„I wouldn‘t do that.“

„Daryl?“ her heart pounded wildly in her chest and she tried to focus on his face in the darkness.

„Now tell me, girly, what does a sweet little thing like you do with a dirty redneck, old enough to be her father?“

„What? Let me go!“ She struggled to get free, but couldn‘t move her leg enough to kick him.

„I know why he fell for you, but I want to know why you‘re pretending to be that person.“ 

She growled: „What the fuck, you asshole! You think I‘m pretending? I wouldn‘t be here if it wasn‘t for him, but he wouldn‘t be here without me, either! How about a bit of gratitude?“

„Gratitude?“ he spat, but loosened his grip on her.

Sam pushed him away furiously. „You think I give a fuck about what you think? What they think? You‘re pretending to be this tough, unapproachable, southern dick, just like him, but I know you ain‘t that. Your brother knows who I am. He fell for me, as you so nicely described it, because he sees that I‘m capable and he trusts me to defend him as much as I trust him to defend me! I saw your reaction to what that old man said yesterday! You thought they all saw who you really are, but he doesn‘t and that sucked.“   
She seethed with anger by now and took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. „You don‘t know anything! I‘m seeing you. Both of you!“ she spat, turned around and ran.


	4. Chapter 4

Gardening wasn't something Sam enjoyed. Her grandfather had loved to work in the garden, planting vegetables and taking care of them. When she was a kid, she had been helping him a lot. Not because she liked it, but because she liked to spend her time with the old man. In these times though, planting and harvesting was something you needed to do, if you were lucky enough to have the safe space for it. Preserves would only last so long and someday there would be nothing to find on runs anymore.  
That was the reason she found herself on the prison grounds, spade in hand and sweating, working with Merle, Daryl and Maggie on an acre for potatoes.

Six days had gone by since the Daryl-incident and neither of them had lost a single word about it. Merle had commented on the eerie silence between the two of them a few times, but didn't get an answer. Sam liked it that way. She sure as hell wouldn't tell him she disliked his baby brother. Silence was good. Silence was the best. 

„Fuck it. It's hot as hell and I'm sweating," groaned Maggie and stopped her work to wipe away the drops on her forehead.

Daryl frowned at her: „We need to get these seeds planted."

„Don't you think I know that? Still, it's hot as hell," she rolled her eyes and Sam giggled.

„Fuck! Down!" Merle pushed her hard down to the ground and she hit it with a smack, feeling her tank top being ripped open by one of the rocks they had been working on getting out of the soil. 

She groaned, but tried to make herself as flat as possible, hastily looking around, to see all three of them down next to her. „What is it?" she asked quietly.

„Pickup behind the fence on the left. It's one of the Governor's cars," Merle answered.

Down on the acre like that the men, who were sure to be there, couldn't possibly aim at any of them with the grass around them being nearly thigh high, but they needed to tell the others. She saw Daryl starting to get up, when a shot broke through the silence, shortly followed by a series of machine gun shots.

„Rick!" Daryl shouted and sprang to his feet. 

Sam had seen him outside the fence a few minutes back and it seemed Daryl had, too.

„Shit, come on," Merle grabbed her and she winced at the pain in her side, but scrambled to her feet. Taking Maggie's hand and pulling her along, they made it to the old bus who stood a small distance away from them, using it as a hideout. 

The gunfire didn't stop and Sam saw Beth and Carl hurrying through the yard, back over at the prison. She grabbed for her gun and, falling in with the others, started shooting around the corner of the bus.  
They realized soon though, that they couldn't possibly win this and Daryl held up a hand, signalling them to stop. 

He looked around, his eyes boring into each of theirs.  
„Let's wait for them to get in," he whispered.

Sure enough, their attackers stopped shooting after a little while. Sam grabbed her gun to her chest, knuckles turning white from the force. Was this how she'd die? After everything they'd gone through? They should have never gone to Woodbury, why hadn't they stayed just the two of them? They could've made it without help. 

The silence was broken by the sound of a car's engine getting louder and louder. She peered around the edge again, only to see a van crashing through the prison gates at full speed and stopping in the middle of the grounds. Its makeshift back door fell open and Walkers started stumbling out.  
Before she could do anything, the driver got out of the car. He was in full armour and raised his gun at them, aiming. Without a second thought, she raised her own and shot blindly, hitting her target and distracting him, as the man himself pulled the trigger, the bullet smashing into the busses cladding just next to Daryl's head.

With a last short gunfire, the Governor and his men took off, leaving them to deal with the dead.  
She looked around and saw Rick on the other side of the prison fence, fighting off the walkers who had been attracted by the noise. Michonne was running towards him, but the two wouldn't make it alone. 

Daryl took off towards them and Merle spun around to look at her.  
„You okay?" he asked quickly and she nodded.

„Go, help him, we'll manage."

Maggie and she started shooting at the ones around them, just as one of their own cars came speeding towards the gates. 

„Glenn, thank god," Maggie cried and they ran towards the pickup and jumped in when it came to a screeching halt near them.

Hershel, Beth and Carl hurried to open the gate of the prisons yard to let them in. When they got out of the car and the gate was closed again, locking the bunch of walkers out which were walking the grounds, everyone fell silent. So much for a safe harvesting space. They couldn't afford to waste any more ammunition on clearing the grounds and more and more dead were coming in through the huge gap in the fence that the van had left behind.

Rick, Merle and Daryl made it in through the side a few minutes later. Nobody said a thing, though. Everyone was out of breath, frightened and battered.  
They went inside and Carol told them that first shot had been aimed at Axel, hitting him in the head.  
Sam groaned. One more person had died, they all were used to it by now. She hadn‘t even spoken to him once, but it still made her head hurt and her legs shake. She turned around and went outside again, sitting down in the sun on one of the stone stairs, staring out onto the grounds. 

She heard the footsteps coming in her direction, but didn't look up. She was sure it would be Merle until he spoke: „Ya bleedin'."

Turning her head, she locked eyes with Daryl. He didn't look much like his brother, he was a good deal shorter, but build broader, probably from lifting that crossbow all the time. His dark hair was a mess of strands of various lengths that had only been cut where they bothered him since the world went to shit, she figured. Except for his eyes, they were a cold, bright blue, the same as Merle's. She tore her eyes away then.

„Hit a rock or somethin‘ when Merle pushed me down,“ she said.

„Let me see?“

She shrugged and huffed out a breath. Sometimes she didn‘t think this world was worth living anymore. Of course, she wanted to stay alive, but what was the price?   
He came nearer then and sat down beside her, letting his crossbow drop to the ground and pulled her shirt up a bit, to inspect her side. 

„Doesn‘t seem too bad, ain't bleeding anymore. Y‘ should clean it, though,“ he diagnosed, „want me to catch Hershel?“

„Nah, I‘ll go have a look at it in a bit.“

He gave her a sideways glance, staring on for a few seconds, before getting up: „Don‘t wait too long. And thank you.“

Sam frowned: „For what?“

„You know,“ he answered before he rounded the prisons corner.

A few minutes later she stood in the washroom, tearing off her tank top. It had absorbed a good part of the blood. The wound didn‘t look too nice, but wasn‘t that deep. Cleaning and a bit of bandage would do the trick just fine, Daryl had been right. She supposed he knew what he was talking of, though. She had seen Merle tending to his wound often enough. She still couldn‘t believe that he had cut off his own hand and then cauterized it all by himself. A shiver went down her spine. 

„Ain‘t nothin‘,“ Merle had told her one night when they lay in their bed in Woodbury, „got lost once, back when I was in the army. Was near bled out when they found me. Starving. Thinking to myself a bullet might make a good last meal. Take myself for a nice long nap after. Wait for Daryl on the other side.“

That had been the moment she swore to herself that she would help him find his brother at any cost. It was the least she could do.


End file.
